My training right now is the GB Fundamentals program. This being my third week training I have been able to make to the school 4 times a week. Any free evening or morning I get I feel the urge to go! I don’t have previous experience with other gyms to base my feelings toward their curriculum nor would I jump to make any judgement. All I can say is I am really enjoying it. It’s a very rewarding feeling to be struggling with a particular movement or have difficulty grasping a technique and then see it corrected later in the week. By the third or fourth class, based only on my experience with that curriculum for the week I notice the improvements. Several of the guys who train have told me come at least 2-3 times a week to see progression. In response I would as how often they trained when they first got started. Most of them said they were in there about every day!

My eagerness to train has only been climbing up. The atmosphere at Gracie Barra Georgia makes it really attractive to come in and train. It is mentioned often to have respect for your partner. The higher belts have been very helpful in class which has been a relief. My preconceived notions as to how the higher belts would be like in this school was off base. There isn’t much more for me to say on it this week. I will be getting a confirmation from my Professor to see if I can be a little more specific with what techniques we learn for the week. Until then I will continue to adjust everything else around my training. Not that I am neglecting my obligations outside of GB, but it seems easier to get through them because I am anticipating making it to the next class. When I mentioned this to a purple belt in class Saturday he looked at me and said “That’s a good thing.”

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https://scjailbreaks.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/waiting/#commentsWed, 15 Feb 2012 05:01:56 +0000http://scjailbreaks.wordpress.com/?p=47Last week I made a financially irresponsible decision to get a tattoo. Going to train a couple of times since I cant tell this was not a well thought out purchase.. I made sure it had started to heal well and wrapped it and covered it in layers. Trying to avoid horrible things that could come with an open wound on the mat has been a chore. It was a little sore from being manhandled the other night therefore I opted out of training at the gym today. I know it’s no big deal and I will be ready to go Thursday. I even drilled our warm ups, extended our normal stretching session, and cooled down all at home just to get some movements in.

Today was one for training. Waking up from an all to real nightmare I roll over to check the time on my phone. Luckily, I have already set my mind to training this fine Tuesday morning. I don’t want to. My king size bed is warm and tempts me to lay their stagnant in the complacency that feels all too comfortable. Jumping up I know that I need to get a move on it. It is important that I go train this morning. I am going to try my best to leave the emotional hangover from overnight at the scene of the crime. In bed. Luckily, I speak to my coach and class has been bumped about 15 minutes. Class was taxing as I struggle through the warm ups! I know that I will get the hang of it over time and it reaffirms that this is where I belong. I feel better than I have in months.

Normally, today would have been my chest day at the gym. My vanity mocks me as I regret not lifting heavy things up and down. Instead I go with a good friend to run the trails at Kennesaw Mountain. After discussing my lifting schedule with a few people I decide to change it. My 4 day split isn’t going to cut it if I want to condition myself for BJJ. I am already satisfied with a good day at Gracie Barra. The sprints I do at the mountain are an added bonus. I know how unconditioned I currently am. I can feel it the last 15 seconds on every minute sprint I have set for myself. The prospect of improving my wind is going to be a challenge. I am still overly enthusiastic about my training in general. It goes to show how my head can go from such a dark place upon rising to finding a new outlook after my workout. Writing this I take a small personal inventory of what transpired in the last 24 hours. Today was a good day.

I find it important for my readers to know why I am documenting my experience. Being 7 years old and watching my dad hang the bronze leather heavy bag did something to me. It’s not that he was in the sun room training every day or inspiring me to do the same. Quite the contrary. That bag would hang unused for years. Occasionally I would see my pops come out and put in work. Starting with a few light taps that gained momentum as minutes passed. My family would tell me about the time in the late 70’s when my dad was a fighter. I would pay more attention to those stories hanging on to every detail that they would reveal about his past. What happened? My love and respect my father is unchanged. Every fiber of his being told to live and work for his family and with that he made sacrifices. He had children, got married, and chased his version of the american dream.

At 25 years I have found myself working 40 hours a week staring at a monitor. I enrolled in a 2 year college that I would not brag about. Feeling stuck I started to look for something. My father had his own motivators when he turned to boxing. He’s always encouraged me to go to a boxing gym and pursue some of his pastimes. Considering this I kept my eyes open for a local gym to train but I had not fully committed to the idea of boxing. Let’s not be coy, I am a rather large man! Several of my close friends trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Dismissing the martial art as something I just would not be able to do I kept searching. Some of my closest friends would talk about their former training like it was the glory days. I decided to give it a shot.

I attended class at Gracie Barra Georgia and really enjoyed myself. Like so many before me, I feel hooked. Going several times a week on top of a full-time work and full-time school has proven itself to be a challenge. I know it will be worth it. I lost about 100lbs this year eating healthier and lifting heavy things up and down. Carrying my fitness goals into this gym seems right. After a few fundamentals classes I decided that I would document my experience with training online. When I started loosing weight and choosing a healthier lifestyle that felt like a beginning for me. I don’t have any grandiose statement about what BJJ has done for me or how it has immediately changed my life. I can tell there is something undefinable that is helping me when I go. So this is a new beginning for me, sort of.